Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to an imaging apparatus and an image processing system.
Description of the Related Art
In image pickup using an imaging apparatus, a technique is known in which a partial region satisfying specific conditions and a specific object are detected from image signals, and image processing for the image signals is controlled based on the detection result. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-141551 discloses a method for detecting, from image signals, a human face and the direction of the face. In this technique, the direction of the face is roughly classified using a face detection template for face detection, and then the direction of the face is calculated in detail based on calculation of an eigenvector using principal component analysis. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-13415 discloses a method for extracting a specular reflection component from image signals based on a dichroic reflection model and estimating a color temperature of a light source in a photographing environment. In this technique, the specular reflection component is extracted using a difference in a pixel value.
According to the technique of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-141551 described above, a detection method with a small amount of calculation and low accuracy is combined with a detection method with a large amount of calculation and high accuracy, and as a result, information on the face in the image can be acquired with high accuracy. However, when image processing such as correction processing of a color and brightness of the image signal is performed based on the detection result of the face, in the related art, it is necessary to wait for start of the image processing until the detection processing of the face is completed, generating a time lag in the processing. Particularly, when the detection method in two steps, such as in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-141551 described above, is used, there is a problem of long processing time.
Also in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-13415, in order to perform white balance correction for an image signal, it is necessary to wait for completion of the processing of extracting the specular reflection component from the image signal, and a time lag in the processing may be generated. In addition, similarly to the detection processing of the face, when the specular reflection component is extracted in combination of rough and high speed processing and processing having high accuracy and a large processing amount, a time lag in the processing may be large.